A Guide to Credit Karma's Free Credit Scores

As a Credit Karma member, you have access to free VantageScore 3.0 credit scores from two major bureaus, TransUnion and Equifax. We also provide an auto insurance score and home insurance score from TransUnion. Aside from the VantageScore 3.0 score provided by Equifax, which uses your Equifax credit report, each score is calculated using the data in your TransUnion credit report.

VantageScore

VantageScore 3.0, which ranges from 300-850, is a credit scoring model created collaboratively by the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. With this score, the credit bureaus aim to make credit scoring more consistent and accurate across all the bureaus.

Traditional credit scoring models weigh credit history heavily, and consumers with shorter credit histories often generate a "thin file." The VantageScore model tries to remedy this by putting more weight and emphasis on the past 24 months of credit history.

Auto Insurance Score

Your Auto Insurance Score, with ranges from 150 to 950, is calculated using data from your TransUnion credit report and is used primarily by auto insurance companies. It helps insurance companies assess the risk of insuring a consumer by measuring the likelihood that a claim might be filed.

The fact that data in your credit report can affect your auto insurance rates may seem unfair, but studies show that there is a correlation between credit behavior and the likelihood a consumer will file a claim. In other words, consumers with higher credit scores tend to file fewer insurance claims and, as a result, are typically given better rates. Note that your insurance score is only based off of credit report information. It doesn't matter if you don't own a car, have never filed an insurance claim and have a clean driving record.

Your Auto Insurance Score is used by the 15 largest auto insurers to measure insurability and price your rates.

Home Insurance Score

Like the Auto Insurance Score, the Home Insurance Score ranges from 150 to 950 and is calculated using data from your TransUnion credit report. It is used primarily by home insurance companies to help assess the likelihood that you'll file an insurance claim. It is also only based off of credit report information. Whether you own a home or have a mortgage or have never filed an insurance claim doesn't factor into the calculation of this score.

Bottom Line

Remember that these scores will differ from one another because they weigh the data in your credit report differently. Therefore, it's important to pay attention to and track the factors influencing your score, rather than just the three-digit number. Working on improving the individual factors could result in improved credit health across the board. Credit Karma provides these scores free of charge, so come back to check your progress.

Disclaimer: All information posted to this site was accurate at the time of its initial publication. Efforts have been made to keep the content up to date and accurate. However, Credit Karma does not make any guarantees about the accuracy or completeness of the information provided. For complete details of any products mentioned, visit bank or issuer website.

All Comments

I find the credit bureau to be about as logical and meaningful as the banks... I am 71 with a credit history which is over 53 years old and has always been perfect. They reduce my credit rating and say the history is only 3 years 8 months average.. how rediculous. They can see on all of the credit report paid off loans, closed accounts, etc. that go back 19 years or more.. The value of the number is not based upon the credit worthiness of the person, but the inability of the person who wrote the program which does the evaluation to paint the true picture. Neither is your balance sheet nor your income considered. Having high worth and large liquid holdings are unimportant... I only use credit cards for accounting and record keeping purposes.. But my utilization is higher than "normal" so that is a bad thing. Big Brother and his invasion into our personal lives continues unabated doing its damage along the way with no recourse..

I agree. These people and their added scoring are a shame. I purposely use my cards like you, to avoid fraud and theft. Then I pay well over the minimum to keep my accounts in check. Still drops my score "9" points on one list and "48" on another. Completely set up to manipulate someone....

truth is its a game like cards to jack rates. Its like credit increase the chance of filing insurance claims. knock on wood been driving 30 years no insurance claims no tickets. Yet they say I have a high chance of filing one because of low credit score due to filing bankrupcy after getting social security disability. But what is hurting your information giving your age is you need to see hard copy of your credit report Id say some one used your id in the past for credit fraud and you need to contest the results. Or your consolidating your credit which sends the message your not using credit enought or enought profits off what you do borrow. Got to remember credit card companys and banks are crooks lol

The credit bureaus are paid by corporations. They could not care less about consumers. If we paid the bureaus a fee to track our credit it would be an entirely different situation. For instance, Verizon filed a bogus claim against me. I challenged them to produce the information. They could not,. Instead, they jumped to a different collection agency and I again challenged. This went on with some six different agencies.

When I saw on my credit report that Verizon showed the debt as delinquent, I sent all of the paper work to each bureau. They responded that Verizon sent the information to them and they considered it valid. I demanded to see it so I could legitimately challenge it myself. I was refused and they sent me back to Verizon, which, of course, refused to comply.

If we paid the bureaus, I can assure you it would be a totally different situation.

i worked for a "Credit Repair" sweatshop and everything about the credit scoring system is ridiculous. The idea that you must incur debt to build your credit. As you mentioned, you can have a high liquid net worth and it does not matter. I've had customers that were high net worth individuals and they had a 550 credit score.

Not only that, but there people/Doctors offices specifically, that render poor service or no service and expect me to pay. I challenge them but they do nothing to resolve the real issue. They send my bill to the collection agency and I can't get it off. So it stays there for 7 years(or more) and I am basically found as the guilty party. There should be better laws in place to protect us from these leeches and price gougers. They are cowards....you cannot win an argument with them cuz they won't talk to you.

I agree 100% with what you are saying but credit scoring is their game not ours and you have to play the game there way if you want the better score. That said, its better to have no credit history and cash in the bank than a great credit score. The better score only means you can borrow more money and get further into debt and thats it. Pay you living expenses and save your money as to pay cash for purchases and you will be far richer than if you have debt and a high score.

I totally agree.. the system is setup in such a way that people always have debts to pay. If you do not have any debts you have a poor score.. the system is built for the corporates to make more money by milking the people.

Question: If you only use credit cards for accounting and record keeping, why would you care what your credit score is? I'm assuming you don't have derogatory remarks. The length of credit history has a fairly low impact on your score--not nearly as much as paying on time and not maxing out any of your cards. I am like you...even the same age. I don't need credit, but credit does affect car and homeowner's insurance. I don't have a mortgage on my home. My credit score is in the high 700s and without a mortgage, it probably can't get any higher. I only use about 3% of my available credit and have 100% on time payments and no derogatory remarks. I can easily qualify for any credit card...but...I don't need any more than I have and honestly, never will. Just FWIW.

I totally agree. The rational that how I use my credit cards will influence whether I will put in a claim on my homeowners or cars insurance is bogus. I have had financial difficulties due to disability and have had the same car insurance carrier for 30+ years. I have had only one accident which was weather related in the past 30 years. My car has been struck by other drivers at least 4 times in the last 10 years and somehow my insurance rating is very poor. Your system is biased and does not factor any hardships when determining credit worthiness. The same for homeowners claims. I have had the same homeowners insurance for 20+ years. I believe I have had two small claims when my home was robbed and we had a hurricane and I had damage to my roof. How does my use of credit determine how I will file claims against my insurance. Why shoul I be penalized on my rates when I pay my bills on time and am a good driver and maintain my home.

This is all a joke, first they talk about Americans being over extended on Credit cards. What do you expect with loan sharking...thats all this is; Legalized Loan Sharking. So when you finally pay them off and decide its cash and carry now. While I'm not paying 12- 23 % Interest rates, My credit scores drop for lack of Bank or Major credit cards. Now they are rating people's Insurance premiums based on their credit score, so if you have a low score you will file more insurance claims. This is way out of control, the last time I was in an accident, it wasnt my fault and it was 10 years ago. So thats why at 58 years old with no tickets my Insurance cost are based on low my scores, because I choose no credit cards. Just another way to hurt innocent senior citizens, who now live on fixed incomes. This is how we take care of our Elders, Thank you for caring so much!

I have probably about 25 credit cards. Student loans are from 1995 or and they were 110k. I have had car insurance for 30 something years. I have NEVER EVER MADE A LATE PAYMENT ON ANYTHING. I was on workers compensation and the first 4 years, the insurance did NOT PAY ONE PENNY since they like to put you in a financial bind where your only option is to take their crappy offer and then have your claim closed. Even while I was not getting a single penny of income, I PAID ALL THOSE 25+ credit cards and I lived off them. I could have used the insurance option, the one that states you don't need to pay if you have an aciddent, etc.., but INSTEAD, I PAID EVERY SINGLE BILL THAT WAS DUE EVEN THOUGH MY CREDIT WAS MAXED OUT. And I STILL DID NOT MAKE ANY LATE OR MISSING PAYMENTS.

In 30+ years, I never had an accident, I never has so much as a ticket. I have NEVER EVER FILED FOR AN INSURANCE CLAIM on a car or a house.

After I got my regular payments started from WC, the first thing I did was to start paying up my bills. I have about a 10-15% utilization of my total credit. I use almost all my credit cards as I started buying items from auctions and selling them, and the ones I deal with require credit cards. However, I pay the full charges within the grace period, so the following month the amount I owe is less since I pay what I just spent plus my monthly payment (actually I always pay 40-50 more than the payments to reduce the amount).

My Home Insurance Score is 712 and is at "VERY POOR". My Auto Insurance Score is at 655 and is also at "VERY POOR". Yet my Vantage Score is B and my TransUnion score is over 700.

So, HTF AM I IN THE VERY POOR CATEGORY??? I am past middle ages, I have less time to live while using credit than I have used credit, meaning I've been using credit for 30-40 years with NOT ONE LATE OR MISSED PAYMENT. If I live to an average age, I should be dead in 20-30 years.

So someone please explain to me HTF MY SCORES ARE THAT POOR when I spent almost 40 years using credit WITH NOT ONE INSURANCE CLAIM, OR LATE PAYMENT, OR NON PAYMENT???

I have actually spoken to my attorney and we may go for a class action lawsuit if we can find enough people. I recently started checking this stuff, so the whole thing is fresh and he'll get back to me after New Year's since he needs to talk to his other clients and see if anyone is on the same boat. If not, I am still considering a lawsuit against these people, especially TransUnion as my Experian and Equifax scores are nowhere close to these imbeciles. Amazing how they have the nerve to write down "this is not your driving history but BASED ON RESEARCH STUDIES, bla bla bla bla bla bla".

You can make any claim base don research studies. There is one doctor who has crap load of data and his claim is that humans are like cars, the less you move, the less your motor gets worn out and the more you will live. And he suggests people should move as little as possible, not move unless absolutely necessary, not exercise whatsoever or do anything that will increase their heart rate, etc... And that is based on RESEARCH STUDIES.

The only way these bloodsuckers change anything is through inducing financial damages and a lots of them. The more the damages they suffer, the faster they learn logic and sadly it is true with every company in this day and age. Their purpose is not to satisfy anyone, their whole purpose is to generate money and more and more and more money by coming up with all sorts of BS.

How are these thieves support to be fair in reporting credit when they charge people for looking at scores and charge them for monitoring their credits? Does it cost 20 dollars when you go click on a report? Are there little people living in their servers who have to run around pulling reports and preparing them for viewing? They have tags on every **** person who has ever used credit and that's over 200 million people in the country. 200 million and they have the face to ask people to pay 15-20 dollars a month to view their own reports for god's sake, those same reports that were obtained WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION because some ******* who could not make money at anything else decided that it would be a good idea to keep tab on people's credits and then blackmail them into giving you money if they want the mistakes removed.

Anyway, I am stopping before I get any madder since everything ends up with a rant lol.

I understand your frustration, but remember that age of credit is only 10% of your credit score. And if your average age of credit is greater than 2 years, you are not being badly dinged by that. Most of your credit score is based on how promptly you pay your bills (100% certainly helps) and how much of your available credit you use (under 5% is certainly helpful). A third important metric is the public record (BK filings, foreclosures, collections, judgements). If your record is clean for 10 years, you won't be hurt at all by this.

In summary, pay ALL yor bills on time, don't max out your credit cards (any of them) and don't mess up your life with BK, foreclosures, collections, and judgments. If you do all of these things, you will have excellent credit. Number of credit inquiries (hard pulls) make very little impact, and if your credit history is longer than 2 years, you are going to be fine there, too.

Indeed the system is flawed. It only works for the people who control it. It won't get fixed because no one wants it fixed, as those in power would NOT GET PAID. So I just keep stuffing my mattress with cash and let whatever else just stand. I pay what I owe in cash or money order and use the 2 credit cards i have to buy milk and cookies. CASH TALKS, CREDIT WALKS, Example: 2 guys stranded on the side of the road in the desert, one guy has cash the other has credit cards, Who do u think will get help and go farther cash or credit. Pretty simple to figure out.

I agree with you 200%. It is ridiculous - I am 68 and my husband is 76 -- I have credit cards as old (A/E gold of 32 years)yet it says my credit history is 18 years old. We have no way of fighting back.

I am in total agreement with everyone's comment on a SYSTEM SET_UP to keep the rich fat and happy by their monitoring of our own backyards. No need to continue figuring out what works and what doesn't to their satisfaction. We will make noise when push comes to shove from our sweating backs of living life on life's terms.

Credit unions are there to make money for themselves, trying to sign you up for a credit card, or one of their expensive consultans to rip you off and after they rip you off they will raise you score, by then you won't have any money to spend!

I totally agree. We have had what I consider perfect credit for over 40 years. We have never been late on any payment in all those years. I pay my credit card balances off every month with the exception on one that I keep a very small balance on since it is usually the only card I use on a regular basis besides my gas cards. I do not understand why the score changes so much on a monthly basis, when nothing has changed in how we make purchases or pay on our cards. I do not apply for new cards and it has been two years since we bought a vehicle or had a credit check run. I have come to the conclusion that all three credit bureaus are a joke. Seven years ago, someone elses credit information started showing up on our credit reports. It wasn't even the same name nor addresses so there shouldnt have been any excuse for it to happen. This persons entire credit history appeared on our report and it took me over a year of emails, letters sent certified mail, and lots of aggrivation to get it removed. I felt like a criminal when all was said and done. Trying to talk to a person is impossible and everything is done in writing with no personal contact with a human. There needs to be a revamp done on all three credit reporting companies.

Totally agree. I'm younger with 18 years of perfect credit yet I don't have a perfect score? The system is so rigged to try and keep us in debt. Coupled with the fact that none of these rating systems agree with one another... what a complete bunch of bull****.

I am so glad u said this because I went from having a triple A credit rating which is excellent and a week after buying a new home, I am single..I was declared dead for no good reason, no paper work on earth fixed it, my attorney said this was probably the one thing on earth that is near impossible to fix. In that week I went from triple A rating while rebuilding my house, to no credit at all not to mention being harassed for being an identiy thief, but which is more ridiculous to me then anything is one account that had no blance closed me out and because I was "deceased" that crediitor filled an application in reference to this which holds a 5 dollar fee and because it was unpaid ( did not know about it) I was placed in collections for 5 dollars. Every bit of information out there when it comes to security questions is incorrect and it is all provided by these collection bureaus. As far as I am concerened they are drumming up thier own business by making it where the only resoloution to your problems begins with purchasing reports from them. They lie and never do what they say and I am disappoimnted that major corporations or creditors use them for credit checks and do not use thier own resources. The most incompetent and under handed people on earth and by the way I was delcared alive again 3 years later one week before my birthday for no reason just as when they declared me dead. I no longer do business with any of the companies that closed my accounts while building a house without the production of a death certificate or anything at all in my favor to make sure this was the fact. My bank on the other hand while I was moving and lost my wallet which happened a couple years after the previous debachle...I cancelled all cards and requested and recieved all new cards with new account numbers when I lost my wallet..I later was cleaned out totally, my bank account was ZERO. Only to realize, question and have my nank remark that they linked my lost card number to my new account number for convenience.. ARE YOU KIDDING ME was my remark, please explain to me like I am 3 how this is security. They went on to question me and I had to sign affadavits swearing I did not use my entire account on t-shirts and coffee mugs. I was steaming and said I am positive, first of all I love my coffee cups that came with my awesome dishes, second of all my family has a uniform business and I can get any t-shirt in any colr saying anything I want for free, of course I am sure. The cherry on the top of the cake was thier protocol is to pay the unauthorized charge, not block it and although they were at fault I had to wait 10 days for my money back. I told them they were not Taco Bell and did not just forget the sauce in a bag and to go home and quit sitting behind that desk u obviously are not doing your job. Someone made a killing at The Jazz Fest on my money and my bank did not flinch. I am very disillusioned and it is obvious these credit bureaus are putting false info out there to drum up business for themselves.

Maybe there's something wrong with me, BUT I am also 71 years old and have an excelent score on all four levels. My only income is from my social security and is well below low-middle income. My credit history started 40 years ago and has been between 800 and 864 ever since. I pay off all my cards each month. If you look into the government required annual reports from the 3 major companies you WILL find that all the companies with whom you have debts DO report on a monthly basis if your payments are on time or not. Credit Karma has been a blessing to me. I like to check frequently to moniter any irregular activity. They recommended a credit card to me, I applied and I was turned down, not because of my credit score but because my income is so low. That is not the fault of the credit companies. I have recommended Credit Karma to all my friends.

Agree the FICO score is probably a Banking SCAM to keep interest rates high. Paid off over $5000 in debt in the last 6 months while on SS and my score went down. It also appears Karmas information is at least 2 months OLD if not older. The only reason I am here is to check for identity theft and if it was not free, I would not be here.

Preach on brother! You hit the nail on the head with that statement. Very thoughtful and accurate. FYI, I have always found Credit Karma to be approximately 60-80pts. lower than your actual/true credit score that "main stream" lenders use.

The overall credit reporting system is SO very flawed! How can a person have 0 derogatory issues, NO history of ANY late payments for more than 72 months, long-term established history, but make ONE charge that takes their credit card utilization to 68% they are now reduced to a POOR credit rating!!! This is an issue that needs to be placed before Congress, as it is a trap to continue to keep the poor and working class consumer in debt by inquiring credit at a much higher rate than the wealthy.

I agree. They offer a new recommendation for credit cards but if you apply for it, it goes down. I also think the auto insurance basing our rates on our credit, not our driving record. Also, I always pay my credit card balances in full, avoiding interest , that also brings my credit score down. That has made my credit go down. Crazy

Yes, the system is severely flawed, but we must work within those perameters. I never close an account if I can avoid it (car loans are, in fact, automatically closed when paid off) to keep that average age of accounts as high as possible. I keep all credit card accounts open even if not used in order to keep the untilization percentage down. And so on, and so on. I, too, am a senior - 65 - and it is annoying to see such an outdated method of credit evaluation being so heavily relied upon.

I have the same problem. 62 yrs of age and my car was bought cash in 2009, I use only 2 of my credit cards and all my bills are paid on time or early. Always pay more than minimum payments. I paid off 3 mortgages on 3 different homes. That is nowhere on my credit report and because I currently have no car loan or mortgage they rated me in the "fair" credit score and I can not get a loan (auto) for less than 9% interest or creditcard with a lower than 24.99% interest rate. So how can you ever work on a high score. Is it an age issue????, or do they just want to keep making money from us because they can. I do need a new car but not at 9+ in interest. I am totally discusted with the whole system.

I just checked my account today and found no changes in any of my credit scores and no activity reported or changes for last few months and yet my auto ins score just dropped 25 points.???

I would say that if the reporting agencies can not give you any reasons at all why something drops then they should not be allowed to report a score to anyone......

A few months ago I found my credit score showed a sudden drop of over 50 points in one shot with no activity reported, no change in debt, no new accounts, no reason at all for any change in any direction up or down.

I checked with Trans Union and could not get any explaination at all for any change in score.........

In todays world where your scores can affect so much of your life a reporting company should not be allowed to report any kind of scoring at all on a person if they can not and will not explain how it is arrived at. "We have a secret formula to compute scores that the public is not intelegent enough to understand" should not be an accepted answer...................

I totally agree!! We've been married almost 35 years and are told we have a 'D' on our credit history because it's less than 3 years old! HA. We've had many loans and they've all been paid off - early. We had '0 balance' on credit, yet when we put airline tickets on one to be with family, we got 'dinged.' In the same breath, they say having a credit balance is actually good. ??? They do not take into consideration your income; ours dropped dramatically (by at least half) because I was let go of work and put on permanent disability. You do know that paying a card off then closing it is considered a bad thing... they say better to keep the card open (and pay monthly/annual fees for no balance) than to close it. It's all out of our hands; 'Big Brother' - you've nailed it.

I also find the insurance part of it very unfair. I was in an accident, actually I was hit, so obviously a claim was reported, because a claim was reported to my insurance company, that made my insurance score lower. It does not take into consideration other factors like the fact the accident was caused by someone else. You still have to contact your insurance company no matter what.

The scoring is more so a tool that the banks use to see how much money they can get off you. Perfect credit to the bank means that you use a lot of credit and make a lot of payments because it equates to money to them.

I can have 10 million in the bank liquid, own 3 houses (paid off) and 4 cars (paid off), make $1 million a year have no debt BUT if you don't own credit cards, I may still be considered a risky customer simply because you don't use credit like they want you to.

The scoring will calculate how likely are you to use your cards and how much, banks do not like people with a lot of credit and do not use it as they tie up funds for someone that most likely will.

Unless your net estate exceeds $750,000, after substraction of protected assets and trusts, at age 71, you're likely to die with unpaid, non-recoverable debt. Unfortualtely Fed, State & local age discrimination laws do not genereally apply to the credit agencies with regards to calculating credit score of persons 66 and older. Best wishes, Jim

HOw true I tried this one. which I use to pay for my scores and they were at almost 800 and these people are telling my I am at a low 700 that is rediculously low. I think they are trying to make you buy one of there extra services. this should be reported to the BBB.

Scoring is a bunch of BS. I recently had a credit card with Care Credit with a zero balance, who got bought out by another company yet never notified me and they kept the exact same card number, etc. For the last 2 months my credit score DROPPED 28 points because of this takeover and I did nothing to make that happen. I didn't buy anything and still had a zero balance. How is that possible? My rating went from "Excellent" to "Very good" which does make a difference in my interest rate. So, WTF? Again, I didn't do anything wrong and why is it I am penalized? I pay cash for everything and use my cards only once in awhile to keep a credit history and pay it off quickly in when it is due. This is the dumbest system for credit worthiness I've ever experience. I even worked very hard to pay off a few debts and now that they are gone, my rating dropped. It should have gone UP because I proved that I was a reliable and responsible borrower. What Sh*t head came up with this credit scoring....obviously NOT someone who borrows money!!! Ignorant, ignorant people. If you agree with me, please respond because I'm sick of the stupidity.

I certainly agree with you. I thought that was the purpose of having credit cards, to use them. Credit Karma always point out to me that I utilize my credit cards too much. I have a perfect history for paying them every month, way over the required amount. They still take points from my credit score and bring it down. What to do? What to do?

Could not have said it better. I lost my job 5 years ago, my credit worthiness went down, so did my score for my Auto Insurance, even though I have never had a ticket for 42 years or an accident. I have received awards for driving with over 4 million miles behind me. This is not fair, a rating of POOR

I agree with you as far as big brother interfereing in our daly lives and businesses. I have a credit score in the high 700's and is rated as excellent on the other hand my auto and homeowners scores are just in the "Good" range and I have never made a claim to either one in the past 30 years. My ins. company insures military personell active and inactive, I'm now looking into other companies for better rates after reading comments from other people.

i am 70 with a credit score from transunion of 784. my bank gave me a 805 score. my advantage score 990.home insurance score 894. they took 30 points off of my auto score from 890 down to 860. does not make sence. would not put much faith in the people doing the calculating.

Well said, to bad there isn't a real credit company who really measures all these factors! What your Net Worth is should be a plus factor overall. I see the same issue with CREDIT HISTORY as inaccurate to say the least. They think they know so much about a individual when they really lack clarity. 401k's, IRA's Pensions, rental income or a variety of other assets or incomes don't play a real role in a individual's credit score. But as said Big brother and the Credit Reporting companies??, already know to much about us!!

Totally agree with you. I have had credit my whole life as well....My histry shows about 5 years as well. I have owned my home for 19 years. Never missed a payment never late. I refinanced 3-4 times in 19 years and everytime I refinanced I losr all the reporting of the prior lender....all my good credit just gone. Same with all my past auto loans...paid off, never late but does not reflect on my report because they are paid off. Awful system....why bother trying to keep good credit when it clearly does not speak the full truth.

I was told by someone with a masters in business that the system is designed to boost the credit score of people who have maxed cards and make minimum payments, while those people who pay off their debts in full are less desirable. This is because the credit companies will make less money off of your interest. If you want to boost your score Max out a credit card and make minimum payments. My TransUnion has risen 30 points like this over about 6 months and I am only 23 years old with 4 years credit history.

Your score is affected if your balance is over 50% of your credit limit. If this is how you intend to use your cards, then you should ask your lender for a lorger credit limit and then make sure you do not exceed 50% of that limit. This will allow you to use your card the way you want without a negitive credit impact.

I am very glad to hear others have the same concerns that I have about this site. I too use 1 of my cards to pay certain bills and I always pay over the payment amount and always early. and I'm in the mid 600's....and the insurance companies...I have never filed a claim on either house or car and have been with the same company for over 25 yrs and never miss a payment and they rate my score on the fact that I may be likley to file a claim??? I seriously don't understand that!! Thanks tho for helping me realize I'm not alone!

I agree with you that credits scores and all these companies are completely arbitrary, yet have huge real impacts on our lives. Unfortunately, it's not "Big Brother" that's the problem, if by that you mean the government. The problem is that these companies are private and have no oversight! Remember the financial meltdown of 2008? Remember Standard and Poor's ratings of banks and investment firms? These companies play the same game. They will do whatever is necessary to raise their profits, including pretending to be regulators to manipulate behavior. At a minimum, we need a federally created non-profit corporation to create credit scores (fat chance with this House of Representatives).

Regarding the auto loan score. They say a higher overall credit score will get you the best offers for an auto loan. I'm in the "excellent" category with the overall credit score, yet for the auto loan score I'm just in the middle with a "fair" rating. This does not seem to jibe with what they say regarding the auto loan criteria.

I am so sorry to hear this my sister was up in her 80`s and they did the same to her she cried so hard my heart was truely sadden for her she had a perfect score as high as it would go next thing you next you know it was down to 600. This not fair the Elderly Sincerely, bc

I think this whole FICO thing is a bunch of crap! I'm 65 and because I haven't used a credit card in the last 6 years, my score has DROPPED from 805 to 740. I have no debt other than the small balance on our home and more money in the bank and in investments than I've ever had. We pay cash for everything and my score is dropping! Makes no sense what so ever!

I work in finance for over 20+ years. I look at on average 15-20 different credit reports every day 6 days a week for 20 years. I see people who have a 675 fico and have never attempted to make a payment on time EVER in life...I also see people who have never had a late payment in life, but owe a fees bills and have a 640 fico score. I do feel the the BANKS are the credit agency's biggest and best customer, and when the big banks wank to loan money ...people's credit scores go up.....when they want to tighten....people's scores go down. I look at my report almost daily & every now and then,my score jumps 40-60 points and nothing has changed.

I am 76 yrs old and face the same battle as you. I have a home insurance score of 815, which is POOR. I have NO home insurance, and have not since my divorce in 2009 ! (I now live in a motor home).

I have been with the same Auto ins co since 1962 (52 years !) but my auto ins credit score is based on the last 3 years with them, during which time I had 3 accidents (just THREE in the prior 49 years !, but that matters NOT to them). Because of the low score, I cannot afford to change to another company, since they will either deny me coverage, or will charge me ridiculous rates.

I agree. I am 54, never paid one thing late ever. I have credit that is very old yet my history says 4 years 11 months.....Pretty sure all my credit is much older than that. Also have a a rating on everything except the one for mortgage rating which it states is poor??????? what the hell. Own my current home for over 13 years and have never once at anytime in my whole life filed a claim on any home insurance yet trans union states 777 POOR. These guys need to be shut down. I am about as squeeky clean as it gets.

I also agree. My credit score dropped 22 points & don't know why. Never been late with payments & pay credit cards off every month. The only thing I can figure out is that they changed our credit line amount. Doesn't make any sense.

I agree 100%! I have been busting my butt to get things back on track since my divorce a few years ago. Yes my credit tanked because of financial difficulties, but I never stopped trying to get things fixed. No matter what I do, nothing improves. I have inqueries on my account over and over again and don't know why. The score goes up, then right back down. This is all a system set up to work against the consumer and get the credit bureaus richer.

Any time you have an account close you lose the entire history of that account. It benefits lenders and not borrowers, but that is how the system works. They also base information on "active" accounts. Some lenders won't even look to approve you if you have less than 3 active credit accounts (revolving, loans, etc.).

while i do admit that i tend to over-utilize my credit cards to make ends meet month to month I find the vantage, equifax, experion car loan/insurance and home loan information to be totally worthless. First, Vantage, equifax and experion takes all this along with credit card use into account and provides fair to poor ratings but doesn't account for the facts that 1) I have never been late on a car or insurance payment in nearly 40 years of buying or leasing cars; 2) I do not now nor have I ever owned my own home and I've never in 35 years been late on my rent or rental insurance so their rating is bogus information that unfortunately we as the consumer pay the price for.

I have an F in number of inquiries. I bought a new car with financing 2 years ago. The engine blew up. i paid for a new engine and traded it. my brand new trade was totaled in a head on collision in 4 months. Being single and working and a son to cart around, i paid on the totaled loan and yet had to get another car. 12 hard inquires. all other areas of credit are a and b. reasons for inquiries should be listed. not to add a new divorce, year in court with 2 attorneys to pay, one apartment, then a house loan. ps. the storm hit my new microwave, dishwasher, and doorbell----costly replacement. bad year!!

I agree. This whole credit score system is a joke. There are no controls over what data the credit bureaus get; who they get this data from; how accurate this data is and how the bureaus interpret the data. I could not get a loan for the longest time because I had 'insufficient credit history'. Lenders were saying : 'We can't give you a loan because you do not owe anyone any money'. My score also always get dinged by the 'Age of accounts' thing because keep my loan accounts short e.g. pay of my car loan in 2 years instead of 5.

It is pretty clear that this credit score thing is not for the protection or the benefit of us consumers. And, as we learned from the last financial meltdown due to bad mortgages, it is too flawed to protect lenders either

I totally agree. I really don't put a lot of trust or faith in the credit system. it is very flawed and is a "sometimes" evil necessity. I am fine renting, i can buy a car even without a checking account. my crecit score rises and falls with the wind. I have just decided not to worry about it. I seriously believe after the serious recession the government and wallstreet put us in that every person's credit should be given amnesty. you can't keep a high credit score without a job or money. The government and these agencies never want to carry their part of the responsibility for anything.

I agree - I'm 67 and have had excellent credit for close to 40 years. This site shows that my credit history is only 3 years long and while I have a score of 778, it is lowered due to the "short' credit history. I am not interested in opening more credit cards, buying a car or a home, but find it very frustrating that inaccurate data has been used to lower my credit score which is accessed by my insurance carrier among others. Fiction should be limited to books.

This stuff makes no sense.. I have low utilzation rate, perfect payment history, zero delinguent info, have high income and pay all my bills on time ( mortgage, insurance, utilities etc) and my score is 717 which is considered "good".. The hell with them.. My "behavior" is "excellent".

As non-intuitive as it seems, don't close accounts. Really, I learned this the hard way. Paying off and closing accounts changes your "available credit" and can make your credit history look much shorter than what it actually is.

Again, it may not make sense on the surface, but that's how these credit bureaus work.

You are so so right but who cares............Washington gets their share and that's all they care about. Freedom is a word they no longer no how to define. If only Orson could see us now he would have to say 'I told you so' !

Big Brother! Are you suggesting lenders should lend you or anyone else money with the to guide them? It's obvious that lower credit scores means someone pays a higher interest rate. A big win for lenders. What system isn't manipulated by big money, not big brother.

I agree with you. Being retired, financially secure and all bills paid online automatically each month, I have no debt. My credit report shows things that have been paid off for years, but still remain. My monthly charges are all on cards. As you stated, it is a good way to keep track and have records of your spending, without writing checks or carrying sums of cash. If this is an accurate reporting system it would be helpful. But it does not seem to be. If you have no debt, you seem to have a low score. I guess you have to have a current history of payments rather than a lifetime of good responsible financial management. Big brother is right sir, my hat is off to you.

I agree and it makes no sense to base your credit history on only your current accounts that are open at the time and disregard multiple years of your closed accounts which in my situation I had 10 years of perfect payments, never late etc. but my score is based on 3 years on my current accounts, This defeats the whole purpose of the word History when it comes to credit worthiness and is *** backwards. The reason they do this is to keep their business model pertinent, when in reality we would not need them due to the fact that it is worthless information for assesing current credit worthiness.

It's funny - and ultimately frustrating - that so many people have a similar story here. My Transunion score is 'Excellent', and Experian & Equifax are a few points away from 'Excellent'. Yet my Vantage Score is 'Average'. My car & home insurance scores are 'Poor', despite never once filing an insurance claim.

The oldest active credit card in my possession is about 20 years old, I paid off student loans from graduate school over 10 years ago, yet my 'Age of Credit History' is 6 yrs 2 months.

I do have a high balance on my ONE active card. But I've literally never been so much as one day late on a payment, much less missed one entirely. This goes for any debts, utilities, rent payments, etc. I've also competely paid-off two other cards in the past 12 months.

It would appear that having a proven, unblemished payment history of two decades (or more for some of you) holds much less weight than the simple amount of credit card balances you carry vs. available credit.

Keep in mind that the credit score is not just a gauge of your worthiness, but also your likeliness to actually use and maintain a credit card balance. They seperated the insurance scores from the credit scores becasue they insurnace companies don't really have the same objectives.

We currently only have a mortgage and a rapidly decreasing HELOC, having paid off and closed all other revolving credit accounts. All vehicles are paid off, and there is no unsecured debt.

The result of this is a lowering of the credit score from 765 to 754 because we have displayed the tendency NOT to use credit.

It used to be wise to keep zero-balance accounts open, but with the terrible increase in Internet fraud and identity theft that is no longer the case. It will be interesting to see how this affects the lending industry when they are faced with an increasingly large base of consumers who are credit worthy but unlikely to actually need or use credit.

I like you am 71 and have always paid all my debts for over 40 years. I have 15,000 of credit available and I use it at a higher than usual rate for record keeping purposes and have yet to miss a payment on time.I have proiperty equity of over $ 200,000 I can accessat any time.I just bought a new vehicle for $ 45,000 with no money down.Yet my credit score is in the low 600s.One of my kids doesn'y have a pot to **** in and is on disbility and never pays for his stuff on time but has a credit score over 750. Its nice to be over 71,own my home,have equity and new vehicle,credit card debts,and not really care because I no longer need to buy anything on credit. I like being in debt as its the American way,

It is an interesting algorithm. If you have lots of old accounts, your score goes up (click on the links that describe each of the factors). Lesson: Don't pay off old loans and have a gajillion credit cards you don't use; pay off all cards every month so you don't use the credit you've been granted.

I am in my 50's, and experience the same issues. Additionally, I am in the mortgage profession and was completey against the inception of FICO back in the mid 90's, prediciting exactly what has come to pass: computer models anticipating future credit behavior more heavily than past performance.

I see indivdualas with deep credit histories score in the 600's simply because they use their credit and then I see people who have just started using credit, have 1 active account that score in the 700's.

Credit Bureaus only count open accounts, (with an outstanding balance), so those who payoff their bills every month, are penalized. You may have 10 cards, but only 2 have a balance on them, so they only count those 2. If you closed an account, it only remains on your file for 7 years, once it is closed it disappears. If you had a payment issue (other then bankruptcy) it will be on your record for at least two years. If you apply for a credit card, it stays on your record for two years for each occurence. I had one issue where I rented a car, they for whatever reason, checked my credit, and it stayed for two years. I asked about a mortgage at two companies, I never really applied for them, but they checked my credit report, and again it stayed for two years.

A bankruptcy will remain for 7-10 years. A court ordered settlement where two people were on the account (such as divorce) will stay for 7-10 years. Unfortunately, they hold the cards, big brother is watching, so be forwarned! Your rates seem to only go up, if you pay ontime, rates rise, makes no sense. With banks paying next to nothing for borrowing, they want to charge minimum of 12.99% to as high as 24.99% and more to people who pay their bills on time. Quit loaning money to people who don't have the ability to pay, and give me a better rate. Why should I have to pay high interest rates because the banks loan to those who can't, won't pay their bills. Everything is done as if we are all guilty of not paying, even when history is on our side. (Federal Government excluded in that statement.)

Leave the paid off accounts open unless the bank or card closes them. That shows lower 'credit utilization' which apparently is important. When you close the accounts your 53 year history 'vanishes' just like that!

I know, it's illogical and a poor system, but apparently that is how it works.

I''m 71 also . My credit report information says I have credit history of just a little over six years when if fact I've had excellent credit for well over forty years!. Credit cards (2) payed in full each month, Owe only a motgage but my Credit score keeps going down. Who are are these mindless individuals who so dominate our lives!!!!

Closed accouts only stay on your credit report for 7 years. So if, for example, you faithfully paid your mortgage on time every month for 30 years, but paid off your house more than 7 years ago, it would have absolutlly no effect on your credit score.

I totally agree with you. In some ways it's silly how they come up with these scores. Just like, I was buying a house and shopping a around for the best loan I could get - that caused inquiries into my credit, and my credit score dives, so ridiculous! Why? Shopping around for a loan was a perfectly legitimate exercise, and wise also.

Then I see this morning that my auto insurance score is only POOR. Why? I have never, not even once, been late on my car insurance bill.

In fact, I have never been late on a bill in my entire life! But what I did do was toss out all credit cards for twenty years, then inquries into my credit history came back "insufficient credit history," so I got a secured credit card from Orchard bank before they were bought out by Capital One and restored my credit.

I use Credit Karma, Credit Sesame and Credit.com to check on my credit situation as I figure with these three all three credit bureaus are covered. Of the three Credit Karma is the hardest on me, giving me a rating of fair.. Credit Sesame says my credit is excellent. Go figure.

You visit these sites and see that your credit went down a couple points for some reason and have no idea why - meanwhile I go right on paying all my bills on time!

I abhor debt. P.S. I think it stinks to high heaven the way our government is just hurling us into ever deeper debt as mach speed, making economic collapse inevitable. Bush and Obama have been the worst presidents in American history, and I can not wait till Obama leaves office. Our freedoms are lessening by the day due to this man.

I just noticed my so called Auto Insurance and Home Insurance scores and how ridiculous can they be?/ I've maintained insurance for my autos and my renters insurance for years, never been late and never had to file a claim in my life, yet they rank me as "risky" and likely to file a claim? WTF? Just because one hardworking spouse falls terminally ill with a mechanical heart and awaits a heart transplant doesn't make people thieves. We've paid our darned bills on time every month and maintained our insurance all along. We've never taken anything and I can't believe they would assess us as such. Didn't even take into account I had perfect payment history on my automobile, all my utilities, my rent, my car insurance - just looked at a few credit cards we couldn't pay. Just wow!

The way i see this whole 'credit' thing is just like another way of taxing poor people for something they did wrong years ago. Do we really have to be paying for a small mistake for the next 7-10 years? Why so long? Isn't just one year long enough? Nope, we must be taxed based on our credit history, on our way of living, on our place of living and so on and so on..

I just find it very disturbing how we, the people of this country have to fight for our credit history and then all we get in the end, is just another 'taxing number'.

Credit score is just another way for our gov't to take money out if our pockets and what can you do about it? Prety ch th.

Not only that but this website is pretty inaccurate, my ACTUAL transunion score is 50 points higher than what's reported here (I actually pulled my transunion score). Maybe this website is gaming your score on the lower side to sell some products. Not really sure how to use these scores.

Bravo! All credit bureaus are terribly over rated and unfortunately utilized too much not taking any other financial standings onemight have. Far too much big brother in every area if our life including what size soda to drink!! What next??!!

I think that the way they rate you is totally unfair and is used as a way to exploit people and justify them charging higher rates to certain people. I have only filed one small claim on my insurance due to hail damage in 36 years of driving and having insurance but yet I pay high rates due to not using a lot of credit and having a lower credit score. Basically I am penalized for paying cash. Insurance premiums should not be based on your credit score but on your diving record and number of accidents where you were at fault. If someone is uninsured and they cause the accident the insured person should not be penalized for using their uninsured motorist part of their policy. I don't even want to think of how much money insurance companies have made off of me over the years.

I agree. I have worked my butt off to pay down debt. I have paid off 2 loans, no insurance claims and not used my cards in over a month. This has my score falling everytime I check it. This is pure B.S. Must be a scam to keep anyone from ever getting a good rating again.

My FICO score has changed from the mid-600's to the low 700's, and back - with no change in my finances or the way I pay my bills. In fact, my score should be getting better. I had some trouble a few years ago, but resolved that debt and have been on time with everything since then. The formula - whatever it is - seems to get a different answer depending on what day the question is asked. I think it's time to make anyone who offers credit to give you the FICO and/or other scores used to determine your suitability for their credit product or the amount of credit you can get. And all of these scores should be free to the consumer any time, not just once a year. All of those credit card offers or checks offering to let you transfer balances should be accompanied by the credit score used to make the offer, or if the offer is only an invitation to apply, then the credit score needed to get the invitation should be given. It is clear that different companies use different scoring mechanisms. I have credit cards with lines over ten thousand - and cards with only $500 or a thousand. How am I a good bet to repay $10,000 to some card issuers, but a major risk that merits a low credit line with somebody else? These numbers may make sense to the people that devised them, but they make no common sense to consumers. That needs to change.

I use my credit card every other month charge 30 percent pay it off and let it go dorment for 30 days it seems to help my score go up. Truth is actually better than buying a car. you only get bonus points on car loan if you pay it off early and only if paid off 1 year before its suppose to be. On credit cards its when their paid off for 30 days. system is warped. that why tell every one to get a full credit report and dispute any thing wrong. Not every thing on them is accurate. Just like the advice here its bias they have lexington law and capital one as sponsors. Pay credit management sites give more accurate advice. but got to make sure they cancel your account when you leave one. I had to cancel one twice but they had all the links for disputes for credit reports

I agree with you 100%. I paid off a mortage in the last 6 months and have NEVER been late on any payment and my credit score went down. It seems like if you keep a high credit balance and pay minimum..... the formula loves that.

i decided to pull my credit score per experian and i was outraged they show a lower credit score then i had when i bought my suv in 2012 that toyota financial financed i contacted them and got in an arguement with christine and she could not explain why it was so low and i have had no more derogitory credit on my file since 2010 i only have one derogatory mark which dropped or should have dropped in august 2013...

I totally agree the whole system is bogas and favors the creditors. I carry low balance and am practically debt free so my credit score went down. Go figure that. I always pay my bills on time etc. so I'm penalized for not having a lot of debt and we wonder why this country is in such crisis financially!!

I think if a companys makes you a offer your credit report shouldnt even take a hit. They got information from else were. It should be on them not you. I allso think since credit bearu info is ilegally obtained threw other sources and inaccurate to even out the playing field credit and loan companys should be obligated to offer you the lowest interest for your score since they are using ilegally obtain info to determine it. I once went to equifax and 70 percent of info was wrong so know it wasnt giving bye me lol

Credit card companies do typically provide you with the score they used to make a decision, as well as the primary factors influencing (reducing) that score, after you've applied. Typically they send a letter in the mail along with their decision. My understanding (not sure) is that they're required to do this, but only in cases where you actually apply. Junk mail offers aren't included (they aren't based on a hard pull of your credit score).

I understand how one company can give you $10,000, and the next one $500. It actually makes perfect sense if you can look at it from their perspective, which, I fully admit, is difficult to do. Say Company #1 gives you 10,000 based on you income and a good credit score. The minute that credit is granted your credit score drops. Why? Because NOW, you have additional debt, WHICH that card company, or loan company, has determined you are able to pay back, which then reduces the amount of available income you had before the loan. Now company #2 comes along, see your income and credit score PLUS the new loan amount of 10,000. This immediately drops your "Ability to repay" down. So they only lend you $5,000. you are still paying on time, but get a good offer for more credit, and take it. THAT company now sees your score, your current income, AND outstanding credit for a total of $15,000, which, again, lowers your available cash on hand to repay your previous loans PLUS any new loans, which is what a credit card is, so they will only extend you credit up to $500.

So it isn't based just on your score, but a combination of your earnings, score, and current possible debt amounts, even if you haven't actually used it, but because you COULD use it, and that is what they have to anticipate you doing.

In other words, if you currently have, say, 50,000 in AVAILABLE credit, and have used 5,000 of that, it would seem you are only indebted for the $5,000 spent, but in actuality you are indebted for the entire $50,000 as they could give you another $10,000 today that your income would easily be able to cover,with only $5,000 owed,and you could go out tomorrow and spend the $45,000 from your other credit sources and not have the resources to repay that additional $10,000.

All loan companies operate on a CYA policy. That's how they stay in business, and the better we consumers understand how they think, the better choices we will be able to make for ourselves.

The trick is simple to keep your score up. Never use more than 33% of your credit line per card. If you make a big purchace on your card pay it back down before the credit company reports.Going over 50% of your limit in a month could cost you up to 9 points on your credit score. It take about 3 months to get your 9 points back so just be careful. it you make a big purchase just use 2 cards or open a paypal credit acount. Paypal does not report monthly and will give you up to 12 months to pay with out ever reporting. I'm over 50 and i never new. I had a 480 score a year ago and because of just doing what credit karma has told me to do my score is 675 and I did this in one year.

And oh yes, MEDICAL bills. My husgand and I have had multiple medical emergencies, surgeries and have always paid either the full amount, which I used my inheritance to do, and have set up payment plans with each medical entity which I pay on time, always, without fail.

The formula is quite complex. Challanging a credit entry may reduce your credit score. Deleted information, while not "listed" in your report is still is used, albeit differnetly, in your credit score's computation. Powerful lobbies have weakened Federal laws governiong credit reporting agencies, allowing them to keep secret their proprietary "formula" for computing credit scores. Under any other circumstance the use of age, sex, race, creed and national origin might be illegal BUT not so in the protected credit scoring formula(s). Good luck, Jim

I noticed my score has not changed been stuck @ 661 and dropping even though I pay my cc more than the min payment due. Even when I pay my car note score continues to drop. I guess credit karma is too busy getting new customers to pay attention to the ones who are referring the new customers. I even tried getting refinanced with a company credit karma said I had a excellent chance of getting. These ppl got my info put me on hold for a lonnnng time and then said they couldn't help me and just hung up on me. No goodbye or nothing.

"I think it's time to make anyone who offers credit to give you the FICO and/or other scores used to determine your suitability for their credit product or the amount of credit you can get. And all of these scores should be free to the consumer any time, not just once a year."

I totally agree with these statements! Your credit score should be available to you at all times, not just once a year for free. Prior to applying for a loan, or trying to switch insurance - I want to know what those companies will be looking at BEFORE I start the research on companies to choose from. It is a total waste of time to research companies and get specific rates and prices, only to have the figures change on you once it goes through underwriting and they use information unavailable to me BUT IS ABOUT ME!! I should know everything in my own report anytime I want to know it. Period.

I agree 100% I have often thought the samething and you go to these companyise and ask them they shrug thier shoulders bascially say "I don't know" the credit industry is a monkey for everybody..BS SYSYTEM

Yes I'm commenting on an old post, get over it. So let me ask you a question, do you pay off your credit cards in full every month? If the answer is no, of course your score fluctuates. It would fall when you are carrying a higher debt and rise when you are closer than having them paid off. You say you have a multitude of credit cards with high credit limits, and even one with a tiny credit limit. Have any of those cards increased your line of credit? (many companies do so to get you to borrow more) if so your credit rating takes a dip. Sounds like you should do a bit of research on how you credit score works, it only take a few minutes of research... Is it a perfect system? NO. Is it a good system? No. Are we going to be able to change it by commenting in a board where no one in the industry is going to read your complaints? NO.

I agree with you it seem's the more I pay and I always pay more thatn the bill my credit score will be in the 600 to 700 range. I guess paying my bills on time and paying extra to get them paid off is a scam. Blows my mine I'm in the same boat with you have credit cards that are 20,000 and some as low as 1500.00. and there paid at the same time every month and more than what the payment is. And one one card is at 2800.00 and the others are payed off not to add my car will be payed off 10 months early. So who evers doing the math for these companies in using are totally different system than what I am

Everyone is correct, in that , the credit rating industry makes no sense, not only to the consumer but to the creditors! I have a credit rating of 780, Excellant, according to the 3 credit reporting agency's. I onlu use my credit cards occasionally, like on vacation. I never leave a balance, I pay off entire balance. I have never had a homeowner claim or auto insurance claim. I have a long credit history with about as perfect as you can get, plus I'm over 65, so, I have a long credit history. With all this being said, my scores never go up and no one can explain this to me. I should be getting the best rates for an excellant credit score but I am not, as many of you are not! THE CREDIT SYSTEM DOE'S NOT WORK, ISN'T FAIR TO THE CONSUMER! IF CREDITORS CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT, HOW ARE WE TO MAKE SENSE OF IT?

I agree with you cujo. I had some problems after I was forced to retire, but since, and currently, am PAYING OFF the debts, one at a time. Just paid off two in the last two months and, guess what, my score went down!!! I don't know how this stuff is computed but it's reeking havoc for me and I just don;t understand.

I totally agree with you! I also don't agree that companies can "buy" a negative item on your credit just before the seven year period is up and then start it over as if its a new item! I have things on there from a divorce in the 80's that just finally dissapeared. They should make an exception in divorce cases.

i agree how can credit karma help anyone when the scores are not accurate also they are giving you offers that makes you make bad decisions...the credit system is the mark of the beast....are we blind...

I also have the same issue but I have never had any past issues with 100% on time payments and pay more than the bill , I will never understand how they determine these scores 3 credit agencies and different reports and One big name card always uses your lowest score of the three which hurts your credit when the other 2 has a 30 point higher rating they never use either of those and "Why do someone looking at your credit lower it that is "CRAZY"

I agree I check my reports everyday I pay all bureaus every month it is crazy that a credit co can report you owe them an amount and your score goes down until they report what you paid on you payment weeks later then if you paid enough your score will go back up everyday mine is all over the place I have 31 credit cards some 10,000 ,75,000 ,8,000 all visas 3 months old but old navy and 8 other retailers gave me150.-200 dollars when I use each card and it reports never over 30 percent and usually pay them in full my score drops cons tally but some days it jumps 100 to 200 points in a day when it is reported I paid one each one I don't know what day to buy a car so I will watch everyday and when at the highest buy my car that day this whole thing is like credit communism period it needs to be fixed we need more rights but until the people speak and start petitions on change.org nothing will change so start potions on Change.org u get thousand of signatures everyday online from people I sign 100'sa day to help desperate people please look into it and all of you sign a petition and send it to the president or congress let's bombard them and make a change thanks CalletteCallette

the system is not complex, the systems are made to gather all your personal information and add to your history in the archives. All these deals and formulas are meant to keep you in the dark and are always hidden from consumers with the BS "privacy" note.

If some of your credit cards have high limits and some low limits and you would rather have high limits on the low limit cards, call the credit card company and tell them that your other cards have higher limits and ask them to raise your limit to the limit of your other cards, Many times they will.

I would love to have an understanding of how my credit score is calculated. A video explaining how the scores are calculated would be helpful in understanding how to increase low scores and maintain high scores.

THIS REPLY should be to all who make money on credit transactions if you cant be fair in your buisness you should be investigated by a neutral judging system. if found guilty of inproprieties. You should be gone from the system.

I dont know what to think about my credit score. I pay all of my bills on time. Im currently paying off a credit card (will be done in 3 months)...I only have the 1 credit card, no car payments, no onther credit cards...of course i do have several medical collections. I dont see how that can go against your credit.

One factor that will change and can affect this situation is 'length' of time on a credit account. The longer you have had said established credit and, hopefully, a good or improving record, the better your score may be. That is why you see advice 'not to cancel' credit accounts, or more importantly, NOT to cancel the oldest ones.

Bankrate.com is a great site to do research and learn about finance, and their article are written in an easy to understand way.

Perfectly said. The credit bureaus are holding Americans as prisoners.They should not have so much control of our lives. The information they report is often in error. Numbers divised by parties with little knowledge of, or regard to the individual's character is ridiculous. I AM NOT A NUMBER! Where is the respect?

The reason you can get a $10,000 credit line with one company, but then another only gives you $500 is because you already have the $10,000 limit. When companies evaluate your ability to repay, they also look at all the other available limits you have with onther companies. Basically, they don't want to drown you in debt so they math it out to determine if you would be able to make your payments if you maxed out all the available credit you have. Then they give you a line accordingly. So when looking at what limit a company will give you, look at all your other cards too. It's pretty freaking simple if you use your brain and think like a lender!

I agree with you and have had some similar experiences, though my credit rating is always good or excellent. I am also disturbed about the mortgage insurance score. How do they come to this score? What is the criteria, and since I have not filed against my homeowners, why is my score showing the low side of fair?

My home insurance score shows high risk. I don't understand this as we pay this with our mortgage loan payment every month on time like clock work, and we have not used the insurance for anything in years.

It seems you're dern if you do and dern if you don't. U am feeling a little frustrated with it all.

I don't know if this has changed but I've gotten two credit cards in the past six onths both provided my fico score when I recieved.

Not going to argue the point we should get to see our score at anytime for free though either. If you want to keep score from bouncing around though get it to a level you want and then freeze it (may cost a little depending on the state). This will lock your credit there but keep in mind this will keep you from opening new lines of credit as well.

My credit score on CreditKarma does the same thing, bouncing 70-75 points from one month to the next, even though all payments have been timely, and without inquiries. However, when my bank offered copies of my credit from the 3 major bureaus, my score remained constant, and it was a lot higher than Karma gave me. At this point, I'm not sure CK is the best gauge. It is true that you get what you pay for. CK says I have 3 credit cards when I actually have one, cites new derogatory remarks when I haven't been a minute late with a payment, and claims credit inquiries when there have been none. With scores bouncing all over the spectrum, we need to go straight to the credit bureaus for our COMPLETE reports!

Couldn't agree more. The score I see on these websites is VantageScore or some other kinds of scoring mechanism they've come up with to give you an approximate idea of your credit standing. But the actual score used is FICO and VantageScore may sometimes be far from FICO. Even if I pay Transunion/Equifax/Experian, they won't give me FICO score, so why should I pay them anyway? I haven't tried myFICO yet, not sure if they give you the real FICO score or just an approximation, but they also charge you. Why shouldn't we be presented with a report/score when they deny us credit. We should have the right to know the rationale for the rationale behind their decision.

I totally agree. Seems when I'm paying off my debts and I've paid two in full and working on two others and I'm still in the poor credit rating. It also states I've been late with home payments and have never been late. When I changed banks last October they never picked up on it even though was done on their website and of course payment was declined at the first bank but it was still paid within grace period. Just doesn't seem to go up when paying off debts. At least not very fast. Takes years after debts have been paid. Why if someone is checking credit does that bring it down? That doesn't seem very fair. People check it for renting and people check it when you apply for a card in a store that gives you bonus savings. Sometimes seems so unforgiving.

I personally feel if an agent is going to base your payment off of your credit score they should be required to report payments made on time to your credit reporting agencies. Such as insurance, rent and utilities.

if a good history cant be used [from rent utilites ins.] then why is negitive ones used. also medical with all its billing fiascos [double dipping, over charging, ghost charging] should not be included at all

I find it ridiculous that insurance companies base how good a rate you get based upon your credit history. To me, that is discrimination. I've always had not a perfect credit history, but have never caused any accidents and have had one ticket in the past 10 years. I am a safe driver, etc. However, I would (when I was single) have an increase on my auto insurance because I was not deemed "creditworthy". What about those drivers who have excellent credit but are horrible drivers? No one should base what a person is based on their credit score. Many of us have bad luck in regards to having medical problems, unemployment, etc. That doesn't make us untouchables. I hope that the auto industry will look at someone's driving history, as the only means for rates, rather than credit history.

totally agree, quick to add those late payments etc, but never the on time payments. I closed out accts myself so i wouldn;t go in debt bad and that goes against you too! I have many paid closed accts but i don't seem to get credit for them.

Insurance, rent and utility payments are not a good representation of one's credit worthiness. Why? These are always the first bills to be paid. When you start going south on these, you are already a very bad credit risk. You can't get too far in arrears because your landlord will evict you, your utilities will be turned off, and you will lose your insurance coverage. That puts you, in a manner of speaking, in very bad company.

@Jasper2 Actually, your reason you give for why rent, utilities, insurance can't be used for credit rating purposes is exactly why they should be used. " These are always the first bills to be paid. " For someone who has their priorities straight, they are the first bills paid. A good number of people realize they can juggle rent and utilities because there's leeway before an eviction process can begin or utilities can be shut off -- and they're not considered in a credit history. I've known people who lived perpetually one or two months behind -- making sure the credit cards were paid.

Rent, utilities, insurance etc should be a key baseline in considering credit for the simple reason that they are essential. I have heard there's a fourth, consumer-based credit rating agency that uses these payments as a base. While credit card companies won't consider it (they don't pay for it) mortgage companies will consider its tatings. PBRC.com

I completely agree with your idea. Some companies are awful quick to throw a "Past Due" status on your credit report, particularly medical bills for very measly amounts. I think it's ludicrous to have a $20-$50 bill sit on your report for up to 7 years! If an individual's finances are in that dire of straits-- when they have to choose between making rent or paying an old medical bill, what good is a magical number (credit score) if you've been evicted from your home?

And if I have to choose, I will always pay my basic housing expenses before any credit cards, loans, etc. Life happens, and who would choose to not pay a bill if they had the money and knew it would negatively impact their credit for years to come?

I Agree 100%! I am trying to get a mortgage and because i have no open credit cards my score is low. The lenders do not take into account that I have been paying 1500 to 1700 a month rent for the last 5 years. The mortgage payment will be lower and this is not counting toward me getting financed. A Joke!!

I agree totally. I have several accounts that take credit score into account and then do not report to the credit agencies therefore that particular account does not affect credit scores (good or bad) unless the account is closed.

Insurance premiums are paid in advance. Usually, rent is first and last months of a lease paid in advance along with the damage deposit. It isn't credit. Just like rent. It's paid in advance. If you don't pay your rent you are evicted. If you don't pay your insurance, you are cancelled. Neither of these has any relevance to credit. It isn't debt that is being repaid. It is a prepaid service. More like a prepaid debit card.

Utilities are not rent as well. You pay your phone bill and cable in advance. If your credit is bad, you must pay your electric and gas bills in advance. If you don't pay your utilities on time, they disconnect you and to reconnect they demand an advance deposit.

If you cannot pay your rent, insurance, and utilities on time, credit wise, you are in very bad company. Would you lend money to someone who is routinely behind on these services?

Credit grantors want to see how you pay when you are not going to get put out on the street for non-payment.

I agree! The consumer does not have a real advocate to level the playing field. Corporate America makes these rules and we just fall into place. We have the power if we unite and make demand that are consurmer friendly.

I agree but with most insurance they don't want the good only the bad. Problem with credit and credit scores for insurance is that all of it is based on algorithms that calculate probability. My insurance score is only fair. I have been with same company for 29 years no wrecks, or tickets. Was told by company I was not carrying enough credit card debt. If someone understands that please clue me in. All of this is just another back door way to take hard earned money away from us.

It annoys me to no end that Insurance companies are ALLOWED to go off of your credit report for lower insurance premiums. Between my husband and I (no tickets, no accidents and no homeowners claims filed) our credit score is averaged out to be 815 and we are paying over $4100 a year for a 2002 pickup truck (full coverage $500 deductibles), a 2011 Kia Sportage (full coverage $500 deductibles) and a 2000 sq. ft. home that is 51 years old (oh and on the house we have hurricane coverage and have $1,000 deductible for regular and $4,000 deductible for hurricane). And yet, my brother and his wife have filed bankruptcy and have an enormous home, a 2013 Titan truck, a z24 sports car, a Harley motorcycle and a boat. I pay more than he does by nearly $1,000. This is not right. I have written to my state insurance commissioner and I get a letter back saying that we should work on bringing our scores up. Really? How do I do that, we pay our bills on time, we DON'T LIKE CREDIT CARDS. We know too many people that get into severe financial trouble because of credit cards. Not saying we would or would not, but I don't want to take the chance, especially with all the identity thefts that we hear about now adays. No Thank You. So we just suck it up and pay higher premiums. And we have gotten quotes from every company we could think of. It just isn't fair at all.

I cannot tell you how much I agree. I asked a guy on the phone from Trans Union why my credit score was not up when the three deadlyest credit companies gave me my credit rating. He said we don't care if you pay your bills on time, we are only worried about your bad credit. When I asked WHAT bad credit, he explained that he could not give me that information, and the three main companies have decided that i had bad credit. I told him that they were purposly doing this to people, and I hung up on him when he started to laugh.

These three companies hold our lives in their hands and if they want to ruin any one of us, they just add something to our computer files. By the way, I later found that the reason i have bad credit is because last years I was the victim of identy theft. All merchandise was stopped in shipment and not delivered, and I was not responsible for any of the bills. The three companies stated I was a bad risk. Figure that out-if you don't have any bills-you are a bad risk.

These all can be obtained easily, and are, by anyone who is considering extending credit to an individual. Plus, they can assume that if there are say, only one or two delinquent reports, that all the rest must have been on time.

Those agents aren't actually extending credit to you, so it makes sense not to count it. If you don't pay those bills they will stop providing the service, and send you to collections. They need to look at how you pay the people who ARE extending credit to you as a means of understanding how they will get paid.

Totally agree with you on that one. I also believe that student loans should not be allowed to be on your score at all. I have tried to get a better score but have been unable to because of the student loans. Doesnt matter if you pay them or pay them on time, brings your score down tremendously.

I think they should base it on how you paint a similar account. If you're applying for a store card,they should consider how you paid yourstore cards. if you are moving and the new landlord is checking your credit score, they should only look at how you paid your rent in the past or your mortgage.

Insurance agents, landlords and utility companies provide a service or commodity, not 'credit'. Which is why they are not required to report payment history or current balance to the 'credit' reporting agencies.

I agree! This system is much too complicated. We ran into a little trouble some time ago and since have made hefty payments to counter negative reports, however our credit agencies have never acknowledged this in our redit report. Our score never changes nor do the amounts owed which are erroneous. How does one change those figures on the credit reports?

I'm no expert, nor would I even consider myself at an above average level of knowledge in reference to credit, but I'd guess it pertains to the B in Derogatory due to the heavy weight of the category. Credit utilization, payment history, and derogatory marks are generally the categories that affect your score the most, and the reason I'd believe it's the derogatory marks causing the low overall score is this...

Based on my personal grades:

Credit Utilization (D) (Yeah, oops... temporary! Ha.)

Payment History (A)

Age of Credit (F) (I'm young.)

Total Accounts (F)

Credit Inquiries (B)

Derogatory (A)

Based on that, you would think I'd have a lower overall grade, right? Wrong. I have a C. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense in reality, but my guess would be that it's related to whatever that derogatory mark is--those have a strong and long-lasting effect on credit scores.

The funniest thing is having both "Total Accounts" and "Credit Inquiries" in the formula to calculate credit worthiness.

According to CreditKarma, credit bureus consider the following:

Total Accounts should be >= 21. The more the better

Number of inquiries should be close to 0. The lesser the better

Did they forget to acknowledge that it takes inquiries to open accounts?? How is it possible to have 21+ credit accounts with close to 0 credit inquiries?Of course this formula is a fraud, just so they can tell you that your score is less than blah blah and that's why they're charging you more.

Also, age of credit is an average of only Open Accounts's age. So, even if you'd been making payments on time for a loan/credit card; once you've gotten rid of that loan, all that hard work is lost forever and your score goes down.

BTW, this might help you understand your credit score a little bit better. it detals the weightage for each of the components of your score.

It's beyond incredible. If Trans Union did your 'scoring' it is not surprising. Some years ago they had me owning two houses and 3 differant bank accounts in Rhode Island and the only thing I had in Rhode Island were my Aunt, Uncle & cousins, and I lived in Boston at the time, and had everything local in Boston!

After I called Trans Union on a Friday morning, and told them they used by SSN with some guy in Rhode Island with the same last name, and I did not have any home loans, nor bank accounts in Rhode Island, the Trans Union creep on the phone said 'Well, it makes your credit score look good." I responded, "Correct the credit report you have on me!", The Trans Union arrogant schmuck refused, and stated there was "Nothing I could do about it." My response was, "Fix it by Monday, or not only will my lawyer be calling you on Monday, but he and I do a 3 to 6 hour live radio call in talk show, and will will be very happy to represent your abused victims and give out his, and your toll free number for a class action law suit."

Monday afternoon, Trans Union, after speaking to my lawyer, agreed to correct everything in the invented credit report they had on me, plus settle out of court! A 'compensation check was sent overnight Fedex. My lawyer added if upon re-checking my credit report on file with Trans Union, and they re-listed the false Rhode Island bank accounts and houses (or added addtional false information) linked with my name & SSN, --- there would not be any phones calls to them, but a live call in talk show and a swift very public law suit. That solved the problems with them, then. Now I am re-checking to be sure things are kosher.

Do not allow Trans Union or the two others, play their typical potential damaging credit games. Fight back!

Because derogatory marks can have an extremely high-weighted affect on your score. That's my best guess. You just have to wait til they're gone from your record (7-15 years, depending on what they are).

And in response to the person asking how you can have 21+ open accounts and 0 credit inquiries, credit inquiries disappear from your credit history after 2 years. So they basically want 21+ accounts that have all been open for at least 2 years, preferably longer.

Just to throw my $.02, just keep in find that credit reporting agencies are in business to serve their clients meaning the institutions that serve them (such as banks, credit unions, insurance companies, etc.) that pay for their subscription services. To us, we're just files to them and they don't have any financial incentive to help us since we're not providing them income ... aside from the FCRA they just don't see the need to help us. Not attempting to be an apologist for them, but you have to go into credit knowing this. Nothing wrong with a cash-only lifestyle!

Mine like that too I have a long history of on time payments and they say it a c I only use one credit secured card for 4 years now but it says age of credit is one year and 4 months they really screwed up!!, makes me mad when they mess up !

This is hilarious. Thank you! I needed a laugh. Back to insurance...I have a D rating, yet, I've always made my payments on time - never been late. I'd hate to think of what "grade" I'd get for non-payment. What a joke.

It would be helpful to know what the derogatory (B) is based on. Total accounts don't matter at all. C credit inquiries might have some impact--how many hard pulls in the past year? C age of credit shouldn't matter much if you have a credit history longer than 2 years.

These A, B, C, D "scores" are not scores at all. Credit grantors don't even look at them. Your numerical FICO scores (you can only get those from "my FICO") are what creditors look at. The scores you get directly from the three credit rating companies likewise do not matter. They are not seen by anyone but you.

Again, your letter score ratings from Credit Karma are only for your own use, as you are the only one who will ever see them.

They place more weight on some scores than others thus the impact of how they compute is not as clear. To ensure we have complete transparency, we should have an explanation how they arrive to a specific score and reveal it's weight on your overall score.

HAHAHAHA! (Sorry, but it's so crazy I laughed out loud.) NOT AT YOU!! At the whole business of the crazy credit bureau shenannigans. I'm just finding out that many others are having the same situation as I do. It's laughable - but I'm right there with you.

I totall disagree with comment below, my derogatory score is B and my xhusband's is D.. my report is good and my x's is not but he has a 718 score and clims every month and I have a score of 671... now you tell me.. how does that make any sense?

yeah mine the same way! I think it crap that the credit scores are wrong mine should be over 750 right now and it only 665 they say to improve your credit score get a credit card HA i DID THAT got one secured card had it for 7years and on the record it says I have it for less than 2 years WRONG!I begining to not trust the credit score personals government needs to force it to be fair and honest to us people who pay on time and no derogatory marks are on my record!

The problem is that Credit Karma does NOT give you factual scores or information. Go to the 3 credit bureau's to get a real credit score. Credit Karma wants to keep you guessing and looking at the adds from companies that are paying there bills. There site is supposedly free to us but they need money from all the companies that place adds on there site to operate. If you do not look at them or apply to them then that will dry up and Credit Karma will not get there money.

Derogatory remarks are the single most important piece of info. I went from a 756 to a 630 because of 1 single 30 days past due payment. HUUUUGE drop from 1 simple thing. (Turns out I wasn't really late and got that delinquency deerogatory remark taken off so my score went back up, but just using it as an example). Your age of credit is also a highly important factor and since it seems you only have mildly aged credit, that's going to bring it down as well. Basically, the one derogatory remark is killing your score. Sometimes you can people businesses to get those remarks removed if there is no explicitly verifiable evidence that proves you deserve the deragatory remark...costs a few hundred I think, but may be worth it to look into if you are looking to take out a huge loan for anything in the near future.

Your "overall" isn't that simple, I am an accountant with a degree in financial advising as well, each category is weighted and is influences your overall grade by how heavily it's weighted, although I do agree your overall shouldn't be a D that doesn't make any sense.

People lets not forget that when companies check your credit it also brings it down. Any credit card offers, loans/credit cards you apply for and so on. You must make a request to each credit reporting company and any companys you have credit with not to share your info. with other companys.

Something is very wrong there (? ) We live under the babylonian system fromm the bibical time and it to keep the rich thieves breeding off humanity we have to pray for divine wisdom in conquering satan agents.

Derogatory marks weigh very heavily in your score. It's a B relative to what some people with very poor credit could have (e.g. 5-6 marks). You should flush out where those bad marks are coming from and resolve any that are in error. For the others, it's just waiting for time to pass so they eventually drop off your 2-year, 5-year, etc. history.

I still don't get it.. I haven't done anything. I had 'excellent' FICO score and then all of a sudden, it's 'good'. I don't understand the fluctuations.

I don't close accounts that are unused because they say that's bad.

I started using credit cards because they said that's good. I previously had no debt and used my ATM card. I now have an AMEX, a few Chase, a Discover, a Home Depot, and a Sears card that I use. I pay the balance due on all but the Sears and Home Depot that are 0% interest for a period, and those will be paid off at the end of that term. Should I just pay those two off now? Will it make a difference? And will that difference be good, or bad??

I own 2 cars and the insurance company takes their money out of my bank every month without fail. I have no car payment.

I have a mortgage that gets paid automatically, never late.

I'm afraid to allow anyone to inquire, as for some effing reason, that makes the score go down. WHY????

This system is so screwed up....as I get older (I'm almost 64), I wonder how to handle the rest of my life!

I thought that earning a decent wage and buying with cash was the right thing to do. It's not.

This is because age is a medium factor and total accounts is a low factor.

History, utilization, and derogatory marks are all high factors, so I agree with melophobic that it's the derogatory mark that screwing you. I'm sorry, and good luck.

Also for the user that replied last, the credit inquiries that are being utilized are hard inquiries, not soft ones. For instance, applying for a credit card with a medium to low balance is a soft inquiry, so it doesn't count against your credit score like applying for a house mortgage or car loan would. I know this to be true, because I applied for a credit card with a $4,500 limit recently and my credit inquiries are still at 0.

Because Credit Karma is full of it!! They lopped off a bit over 100 points from my FICO score!!!! Dont believe the hype. And they have my credit history as 1.8 years when it is actually 15 years and one of my loans is even on here as proof of that. How stupid and just a pure waste of everyones time. If you notice....there is an ad for "Lexington Law" on these pages. What does that tell you? And to the people that say why dont they report "on time" payments....just assume that where there is no "late payment" for a particular month, means you paid on time so they are actually on there too. Late payments are usually listed as 30, 60,90, 120 days late or NP for "no payment" for every month and C/O for charged off. This is not a real credit report we're looking at here. Hope this helps folks and good luck!